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Slavery
Hello. For a long time I've been wondering about karma, slavery, genocide, and poverty. From my understanding, people who suffer in this life probably caused some wrong in a previous life. Yet I can't imagine that the millions of victims of slavery etc. that occurred throughout history (including Rwanda, Darfur, the Holocaust) suffer because of karmic law. It's just too cruel and disturbing -- and these victims tend to belong to a particular race. Why are some races blessed with the good life while others are condemned to suffer, sometimes at the hands of the luckier ones? And if we do suffer because of past actions, why do some groups slaves for example, gain their freedom before others? (English slaves were freed before French slaves, who were freed before American slaves.)
Thanks, Greg
Nagapriya responds:
Hi Greg. Most questions and difficulties about karma and rebirth generally boil down to a version of your question. The answer depends on whether or not you see your personal karma as responsible for everything that subsequently happens to you. If we look at some early Buddhist sources, including the Pali Canon, it is clear that while karma has a significant bearing on the course of one’s life, other factors also influence one’s situation (see, for instance, Samyutta Nikaya, 36.21); not least of these is the karma of other people, which we cannot control. However, some traditions, notably Tibetan Buddhism, generally emphasise individual karma as the sole cause of one’s happiness/sorrow – the implication of this, as stated by some Tibetan lamas, is that those in Rwanda etc. are reaping the consequences of karma sown in previous lives.
I find this latter view neither convincing nor helpful. In general, it is not useful to look at the sufferings of others and speculate that these must result from their karma in former lives, especially when we cannot know the connections between their present condition and their former conduct. The factors that create the circumstances of an individual’s life are many and complex. Viewing the misfortunes of others purely in terms of their previous karma may encourage us to think that they must deserve them, which is not a skilful attitude.
It may, however, be helpful for us to reflect that when something untoward befalls us we may have contributed to the situation; not so that we will then feel that it is all our own fault, but because it may encourage renewed efforts on our part towards ethical vigilance. In relation to the sufferings of others, compassion is the appropriate Buddhist response.
